Detour
by JPTorres26
Summary: Kyoko encounters Keisuke a year after the end of Project D's expeditions, remembering his words of focusing on nothing but the team when he rejected her before, would she be able to become closer this time around? Or will it end in another heartbreak?


**Initial D Fanfiction**

**~Detour~**

**Author's Note: The story takes place a year after the expeditions of Project D, and the battle against Team Sidewinder is assumed to be their last, so spoiler alerts for up until that point. **

**Chapter 1 ~ Crossing Paths**

* * *

It has been a year since the year-long expeditions of the legendary street racing team, Project D, had ended. The team became the fastest and most famous team in the Kanto region during their tenure, they had started strong and remained undefeated even up to the time they disbanded. Their leader, Ryosuke Takahashi, was already a famous racer even before he formed Project D. Known as the "White Comet of Akagi", he was regarded as the fastest racer in the Gunma area. Along with his team, the Akagi Red Suns, his name was known to even professional race car drivers.

However, Project D did not just give fame to Ryosuke, most of the hype went to his double ace drivers Takumi Fujiwara, and his younger brother, Keisuke Takahashi. Takumi and his Panda AE86 Trueno was a feared force on the downhill, defeating more powerful machines like the Civic Type-R, MR-S, Lancer Evolution, and even an S2000 with his decade old Hachiroku and his unorthodox driving style and techniques. Keisuke, on the other hand, was known to be a street racer with the skills of a professional, much like how his brother was seen. Keisuke's FD3S RX-7 was regarded as a monster machine, besting other monster machines such as the Skyline GT-R, the Supra and the NSX.

The team's last battle was fought against Team Sidewinder in Hakone, Kanagawa prefecture. There, Keisuke defeated team leader Go Hojo and his heavily-tuned Honda NSX while Takumi fought a close battle against fellow downhill prodigy Shinji Inui, earning a victory in the end. With both battles victorious and new fastest lap records set, Project D completed their domination of the mountain roads of the Kanto region and disbanded a month later.

What happened to the members of Project D? Keisuke and Takumi both went on to become professional racers on different classes. Keisuke was offered a seat for a team racing in the Super Taikyu endurance series with their own FD RX7 and has produced satisfactory results, winning the round in Suzuka circuit and finishing on the podium on the rest of his races. Takumi meanwhile, found himself competing in the GT300 class of the Super GT, driving a Toyota 86 as a second driver for one of the private teams.

* * *

Present day, Tsukuba circuit, Ibaraki prefecture. Today was an open track day, and like any other track day, a lot of drivers come in with their tuned cars, attempting to break the magic 1 minute barrier with their skills. Kyoko Iwase had moved to Ibaraki after Takashi, a friend of hers opened his own tuning shop there, and had asked her help in running it. Now, she's at Tsukuba to test the recent tuning that was done to her black FD.

After Takashi finished the final checks on her engine and lowered the bonnet, she set off, cruising along the speed limit of the pit lane and going full throttle as she got out. She went around the track at 75% throttle before she went all out at the final corner and back down to the home straight as her timed lap began. Attacking the first hairpin as hard as she could, controlling her single turbo FD as she went, continuing her attack, she felt the car oversteer coming in the Dunlop curve, pushing still up to the second hairpin that leads to the back straight, she quickly regained her racing line as she navigated through the slower traffic that went to the side of the track to give way to the faster cars. As she came out of the final corner and down the home straight, her onboard timer recorded a time of 1'02.344.

_If the car didn't oversteer back then, I would've gotten faster_ she thought as she slowly went around the track and came back to the pit lane. She got out of her car as she stopped, and Takashi immediately fiddled with the locks on the bonnet and raised it, prying the stand in place as he lifted the carbon-fiber cover.

"Takashi, the car's oversteering down the Dunlop corner, what do you think we should do?" she asked. Even after working on a garage when she was still in Saitama, she never really knew how to tune her car for racing, as all the work she did then was simple maintenance.

"I'm not sure, how exactly did the car oversteer? Did the rear give out under acceleration or did it just slide out during cornering?" asked Takashi, trying to determine the problem areas with Kyoko's own driving feel.

She looked down and placed a finger under her lower lip "Well, the car did give slide as I turned in, and I hadn't even stepped on the gas yet." she replied as she recalled what exactly happened in the previous lap.

Takashi looked at her as he set the bonnet down and locked it, he climbed up over the concrete fence of their paddock and took out a hydraulic jack, raising the rear of the car as soon as he set it under. "If that's the case, then I've gotta adjust the suspension." he said as he slid under the car and started working on the rear dampers.

Kyoko walked over to the trackside area while her friend was making adjustments. She watched the different cars that passed by the home straight, a black EG6 Civic and a red R33 GT-R passed by before something else caught her attention, she heard the familiar engine roar coming in from the final corner, and when she looked, she saw a bright yellow FD3S with an RE Amemiya kit blaze by. Seeing the FD made her heart jump, as the image of the car itself reminded her of the man she raced and fell in love with, Keisuke Takahashi. She was still trying to move on after Keisuke rejected her advances, and she then thought to chase down that FD when she got out.

After hardening the rear dampers to improve the car's rear stability, Takashi slid out from under the car and lowered the car back down "Kyoko! I'm done here, why don't you try this one out now?" he called out. The girl quickly walked back to her car and got inside, starting the engine as soon as she settled in her safety harnesses. "I've hardened the rear suspension a bit, so try and get a feel on how the car will handle on the rest of the course." he then looked to the rear of the car "Even with the new GT wing installed, the car's still prone to wheelspin because of the car's torque, so don't go flooring it down the last corner, alright?"

Kyoko nodded and looked back at the road ahead "I'm going out now." she said as she cruised out the pit lane. She wasn't gunning for the minute lap time anymore, she now wanted to chase down the yellow RX-7 that blazed by the start/finish straight. Attacking the corners as soon as she got out of the pits, she eventually found the FD slowing down at the final hairpin. Gently stepping deeper on the brakes, she pulled her car dangerously close behind the FD, tailgating it to signal a challenge. Not a moment later though, in the back straight, the yellow FD went full throttle, and Kyoko decided to chase after it.

A constant distance kept between the two FD3S, Kyoko deduced that the car she's chasing has more power than hers, so she decided to attack by braking very late at the first corner entry, only to find her target braking later than her despite having come in faster. Kyoko saw that at corner exit, the distance grew rapidly, and after the second hairpin, the yellow FD had already left her behind. Her eyes widened, shocked at how the FD just went off as if she wasn't there, she slowly let off the gas and cruised back to the pit lane.

To her surprise, the yellow FD was right behind her when she came in to the pit lane, it parked two paddocks in front of theirs and when she got out she set her eyes on her parked opponent. The door on the yellow FD opened and revealed the driver to be wearing a race suit and a helmet, the driver walked to his paddock and took of his racing gloves, and when he took off his helmet and his protective mask, Kyoko gasped at the sight. The driver of the yellow FD had yellow hair spiked upward, too familiar, she thought. When the driver turned around to face one of his mechanics, her heart stopped, that face was more than familiar. _D..d..darling? What...what's he doing here?_

Keisuke was being asked by his mechanics about how the car handled around the circuit after he had just set a 58 second lap time when he noticed the girl looking at him. He looked at her direction and it only took a moment before recognition flashed on his face. _That girl...what...what's she doing here?_ His thoughts quickly translated into unconscious action as he slowly made his way to her, not even hearing the words his mechanic was telling him.

Kyoko was frozen stiff as she saw Keisuke walking towards her, before she knew it, he was already standing in front of her black FD. Silence filled the gap between them for a few more seconds before Keisuke spoke "Hi there." he said as he raised his hand in front of him and gave her a small wave.

Kyoko's face quickly flushed as she heard Keisuke _Oh my god, he talked to me...what does this mean? Or better yet, what am I gonna say! _She was panicking inside until she finally managed to utter a simple "Hello." without even making eye contact with him.

Keisuke eyed suspiciously at her behavior, but smiled a moment later "You know, I never thought I'd see you again, Iwase-san." he said

Kyoko still avoided his gaze as she replied "Me too, darli-I mean, Takahashi-san!" her face grew redder as she nearly called him _darling_ out loud. _Get a grip, Kyoko! You can't call him that after all this time...then again, why are you even talking to him!_

Keisuke somehow sensed that the girl felt awkward talking to him after all this time. _Oh right...I nearly forgot what went on between us...I guess I have to make it up to her somehow_ "Kyoko." he said, making her look at him instantly "If it's alright with you, can I talk to you later? I still have work left to do with the crew here so now's not really a good time." he continued. He then titled his head and asked "You're phone numbers still the same, right?" the girl simply nodded in response, Keisuke sighed in relief "Oh good, well, I'll see you later then." he said before he walked back to his crew, who all had suspiciously mischievous glares on their faces.

Kyoko stepped back into her car and sunk on the bucket seat, when Takashi approached her, she looked spaced out. "That guy, that was Keisuke Takahashi, right? The famous street racer turned pro driver? How the hell did you know him?" he asked.

She looked back at her friend and simply smiled "It's a long story, Takashi, how darling and I met." she said. Clearly she was now wording out her thoughts. Takashi jerked back at the mention of the word _darling, _but just shrugged and smiled as he pumped the manual jack behind the car and began changing the tires.

"Darling, huh? You've found yourself quite the prince there, Kyoko." he chuckled as he drilled off the wheel nuts and removed the tire.

Crossing paths with Keisuke at the most unlikely place brought an irreplaceable smile on her face, and of all things, him _figuratively_ asking her out again made the flowers in her heart bloom. He didn't sound like he wanted to tell her off, no, far from it. If he wanted to avoid her, he would have just ignored her. Throwing her past heartbreak aside, she wished time would skip just so she can talk to him again.


End file.
